Thank you from Sobros HQ and Nashville, Tennessee to wherever you're cheering on your
Tennessee Titans. The Sobros Network presents the Unofficial Titans Podcast. Welcome in for
a Memorial Day edition of the Unofficial Titans Podcast right here on Sobros Network.
You know we got those minds right, We got those asses tight for the
three day weekend coming up. It's your boy, the e C at Sobrosnetwork
dot com, Big Natural Stoney Kieley. You can follow me on Twitter at
Stony Keighley. Follow us collectively at sobros Network on all major social media platforms.
I'm always thrilled when I can have a ball knower on the show and
our guest today, I'm telling you some of the the smartest shit I've heard
this offseason has come out of this man's mouth. I'm stoked to have him
on the show. We've been trying to get this on the books for like
two months now and the start Wow, man finally aligned. You know him
from Tennessee Fan TV on YouTube. You got the Exit one show, you
got be Will's take. You know him from The Morning Glory Show Thursdays at
seven a m. Central on the Glory Day Sports YouTube channel. He is
be will be will my man we uh man A little late. I love
the intro, Man, I appreciate it. I try to bring the energy.
Man if I'm like, I'm a fan of yours, so like I'm
stoked to have you on the show, and I try to replicate that energy
and put you over. To borrow a term from the wrestling world, put
you over as strong as I can. We're little late getting the stream started.
We could have we could have talked about El Camino's for for thirty minutes
straight before going live. We could have, Man, I didn't know if
they were ready for that or not. Maybe into bonus show. Bonus show.
Yeah, we'll get some cars, set it up for the next time.
Have a layup going, so before you get started. Man, I'm
a big fan of yours, some big fan of Bars network. You're what
you what you did during the draft process is unrivaled by anyone now to me,
national media wise, anybody. Man, you you did an exceptional job,
especially focused with the Titans. Man. I really appreciate you, and
I feel like I can speak for others and say we appreciate you for all
the work you do during the draft season and throughout the season too, because
I mean, you're really one of the smartest minds we got in the Titans
content world. I feel like, man, I appreciate you saying that that
that means a lot because there's a lot. I mean, you know,
like you're in the content game too. It's like people don't always take the
time to tell you that they appreciate you. So I appreciate you taking the
time to say that. And it's something that I work really hard on.
And sometimes you get to those points where it's like two am and I'm I'm
grinding, Like the Southeast Missouri tape, I'm like, is anybody even paying
attention? Is anybody even given a shit? So it's it's good to hear
that that that goes goes notice. So I appreciate that. Man, What
what got you into the content game? What had you wanting to get into
media and podcasting? So I'll be honest, I'm a big, big soccer
fan, and I drew a lot of my inspiration from a lot of the
type of content that they make over there in England. For the soccer over
there, they have a there's an arsenal fan TV that they have, so
as you can tell with the name, a lot of inspiration came from them,
and it really was just a matter of giving fans the voice you know,
we get we we as Titans fans. We see the national media how
they talk about us. We see the local media sometimes how they talk about
us, but nobody really gives a shit or listens to the regular fan of
me and you as much as they can, you know what I mean.
So that's the driver for me, man. I want to be able,
especially after the games. I do the interviews outside the stadiums. Yeah,
I want to get raw reactions from fans like you and I after the game
because we have a ton of you know, we have a ton of smarts
within the fan base, and we have a ton of emotion that within the
fan base too, that people are due to get out. I mean,
that's what sports is about. His emotion and it's not just about the national
figureheads emotion or the coach's emotion at the press conference, is about the fans
as well. So I strive for that. Man, we got our boy
Jake in the comment. Jake's been on the show before. I'm gonna try
and complete the trifecta and get Jonathan on at some point. But you guys
kill it on the Morning Glory Show Thursdays at seven on the Glory Day Sports
YouTube channel. How did that show kind of come together for you? What?
What was it? Because Jake told me he just put out a call
one morning and said, hey, who wants to do a show? And
you stepped up to the plate. What was it about the opportunity that you
saw that you liked and you wanted to be a part of. Man,
Jake's another guy just like you that I've really admired from Afar and you know,
I just started this. I'm really new to the Titans content content game
too. I've only been in it for about a year and a half,
but I've been in it for much longer than that, you know, just
from Afar watching. So I've always watched guys like Jade. I've always watched
it as like you have always watched guys like you know, hearned it,
I mean just the ogs of it. So when he did that, I
was like, this is And I've always I feel like if I was gonna
get on a show with somebody, it's it's gonna be with somebody that understands
the game, and we can have real conversations about the Titans, because there's
one thing to just talk about the Titans and be emotionally written talking about them,
but we I like to have some logic talking about the Titans and talk
with other guests. And yep, Jonathan's full of full of it as well.
But I saw he put that out and I was like, man,
I can't miss this, and he gave me the opportunity to, you know,
be a close on the show and it's been great ever since. Man,
I don't even have to have coffee for it, and that's how amped
up I'm ready for it, you know. Yeah, I still got to
have my coffee for it. I'm still like I I just told you before
we went live, like I'm do a the day job at eight am,
so like my alarm is usually set for seven am, but it's more like
seven twenty seven twenty five that I turn on. I turn on the show
and join you guys. So like I'm I'm still like in zombie mode.
But that's you know, that's a good thing. Depends though. Man.
If it's if it's football season and the weather's nice outside, you know,
I'm a lot more. I'm a lot more of a productive person outside of
football season. I'll be honest. I mean I'll go to the gym every
now and then I'll actually talk to my family, you know. Yeah,
it's just it's outside of football season. Man. We get a lot of
time back so in a certain way, especially in this little dead period,
right yeah, yeah, you know, yeah. I know. My wife
was was thrilled when the draft was over. I remember her saying, like,
do I get my husband back now? And I'm like, I don't
know, babe. I just got my twenty twenty five notebook and I got
tape. Yeah, the Ota isn't coming. It's really it really doesn't sleep
a whole lot anymore. I think the NFL has done a masterful job and
kind of marketing their product. You get like a little extra time with the
draft being later, and then you've got the schedule release that they make a
big deal out of, and then before you know it, OTA is in
training Camper here. So that's that's by designer. That's they got you hooked,
man, they got you hooked. Yeah. I tell my wife,
I'm like, take it up with the NFL. Email Roger Goodell, let
him know you want your husband back. But man, before we get into
the Titans, talk about where this team is at heading into the summer.
I gotta know, b Will, what what did a money hooker do to
you? What did a money hooker do to you? So it's it's a
little bit of betrayal. I feel like, you know, I was really
you know, with I got Trail that's on the X and One show too,
and he as soon as the deal and the ink was dry with the
deal he got from John Robinson. I think it was ten or eleven a
year yea, Trail said absolutely not yeah, And I fought him tooth and
nail and I was and I watched a moni hooker and I didn't you know,
he was a byproduct of what we were doing. And you know,
back then he was he wasn't the main guy in the secondary. He was
the guy that'll pop up and make a play when we need to make a
play. And I thought that was okay. Then I got to looking at
the safety market, how much he safety is getting paid around the league,
and I was like, we're paying this guy, damn near Ferrari money for
Mustang production. And I like Mustangs. Don't get me wrong. Yeah,
but you know the thing with him is that he gets paid a lot of
money and he's not that for me. He's not that much of a difference
maker out there. He's and if you look at if you looked at the
Calvin Ridley tape from when the Jags played us, he a Moni Hooker showed
up more on that tape than Ridley did. And it's it's across the across
the board with that. And my worry is, as we get better,
we also have to up our standards as Titans fans, especially in that secondary
position, because the secondary has improved a lot. Yeah, Hooker to me
looks like he's going to be the week leak week link in the secondary and
he's going to be targeted by these other offenses. If I was game planning
against the Titans defense before he drafted Devantay Sweat, I would have gassed us
and ran it down our throat. But we got Sweat now, which is
good. But now I'm looking at the secondary and I'm looking at a money
hooker man, you know, I mean to your point, if you look
at how they attacked the secondary this offseason so far, he kind of did
go from being like the safe bet, like you didn't have to worry about
a money hooker. He was kind of the top dog in the secondary to
now all of a sudden, you're looking at it like, I don't know,
he might be the weakest part of that group right now. But I
just wanted to, you know, I wanted to let the people know.
I just wanted to let the people know. Give you the chance to explain
the dislike for a Monei hooker there, That's all I'm saying. Yeah,
I don't. I don't know, man. I think it's it's accountability.
I wouldn't say it's just like I don't just like a money hooker. You
know, gap lives matter. We both got a gap, so you know,
it's all good with me. But it's just the on the field,
on the field thing. Yeah, So I hear you, I hear you.
So, how do you feel about the state of this roster now that
the dust is settled on the draft, the main wave of a free agency
is coming gone. We've got OTAs, guys are out there in their underwear
running around practicing. We're at that point of the offseason where the roster,
I think for the most part probably is what it's going to be minus an
addition here or there. How do you feel about the date of the roster
given what the Titans the Resources had, what they could check off the list
this offseas, and do you feel like they're in a good spot right now
or are you still kind of worried? So I would say, if I
were to rate how much worry I have for the roster, excuse me,
I'll tell you I'm out at about six right now, honestly. And I'll
start with the offense. You know, the offense. Ran Carthin's did an
exceptional job this offseason, but he couldn't fix everything. I mean, let's
be honest, this roster was a shambles. Yeah. But the receiver room.
I'm content with the receiver room. I mean we got the big names
with Calvin Ridley coming in, with Tyler Boyd coming in to add to DeAndre
Hopkins, and then we have Kyle Phillips and Treylon Burke's on the back end
of that. But my biggest gripe with the receiver room I spoke about it
on The Morning Glory Show or The Morning Glory Show, is we do not
have a guy that's gonna make something happen outside of the schematics of the system,
you know, and we're gonna need that, especially if we stumble into
the playoffs and you know, you need a guy to convert on third and
seven and break a tackle. Because if you look at the analytics of cal
offense when he was in Cincinnati, I want to say almost sixty percent of
their throws were to the flats, right, So once you catch the ball
on the flat, you got to make a guy miss because there's always going
to be a guy there no matter what covers they're playing to playing Cover two,
they're playing Cover three, somebody's flying out to the flats from the linebacker.
You've got to make a guy miss. And I don't see that in
this receiver room. So that's my that's my biggest thing with the receiver room.
Do you think we have somebody that can make a guy missing the receiver
receiver room, Burke's supposed to be that guy. I think the hope is
that maybe maybe Burke's could be that guy. I think, I mean,
maybe Ridley is probably your best option because of the quickness there. Maybe that's
part of the reason they drafted Jakwan Jackson, though it kind of sounds like
his primary focus is going to be as a return man and Stony you were
probably just like me. Well, I almost stroked out when we drafted.
I wasn't I wasn't the big who was on board. We both know,
we both know who was on bar still that we could have grabbed that would
have solved this problem. Yeah, and then he goes to Miami, which
is probably the best situation for talking about Malik Washington by the way, Washing
for those that don't know. Yeah, goes to Miami, which is probably
the best possible scenario for him to land in where you've got some studs in
front of you that are going to require attention and you can kind of ease
into that role. Man, I I didn't get the vision. I mean
it's obvious, like Tyke Tolbert was really high on Jawan Jackson from attending his
pro day, and you know, there's been reports from the OTAs this week
that he does look pretty nifty out there and his breaks and and you know,
I just I don't know. He's in the category of I'll have to
see it to believe it. With Jakwan jacks exactly, but and he has
an uphill battle to get to the roster too. Yeah, yeah, I
mean there are some bodies at wide receiver. It feels like this is a
deeper group than they've had in a in a long time. There's gonna be
a lot of competition for him. There. You kind of answered the question
for me. But outside of Malik Washington, do you think there were other
options for this team in the draft that maybe could have checked that box for
you? Should they have invested a little earlier in wide receiver in your opinion,
I would have loved us too. I mean, obviously neighbors. If
he was there, that's exactly who I'd earmarked for us to for us to
get, That's who I wanted. Yeah, and I wouldn't have been mad
if we would have got a guy like Odonse at eight. You know,
that would have been fine because we're gonna need to fill that X receiver void
here within the next year. Really, I mean, let's be honest,
within the next year. But Odunsee could also float around to the X,
the HY, the Z. He can play all over, so it wouldn't
have been a bad pick. But I love the Latham pick. But another
guy that I really really wanted. And it goes to another need of why
I'm really hesitant on this roster defensively, especially is at edge and it's a
guy Mo Kamara from Colorado State. I mean, that's somebody that I absolutely
wanted at edge. There. Rasa Weaver is a guy that I'm really more
on than a moni hooker because we don't have an edge guy that can set
an edge. Yeah, defensively on the roster right now that you know,
we just don't art and Key's not going to set an edge. Rasa Weaver
is immune to set in the edge. Uh you know, I mean I
ain't seen him do it. I can count one hand in his career how
many times I've seen him set the edge. Well, I'll be honest.
That was one thing that I wanted to ask you about because I haven't heard
a whole lot of people this offseason saying it. And it's a it's a
pretty good take in my opinion, is you know kind of how light the
edge rushers are for this group right now? And and you pointed out that
teams like should be able like wide zone, outside zone, anything designed to
get the ball out to the perimeter. There a team should have a sad
day against this this Titans front. So give you the floor to explain that
take a little further. Yeah, So any for me, And this is
another way I'd look at attacking this defense. That's the way I'm I look
at our team. I'm trying to look at it from an outsider perspective as
maybe a game plan or something I've played. I've been in football all my
life. I'm looking at this defense and how I would attack it. Sneed,
You're not gonna be able to attack the one. You just can't and
your two is probably gonna be overmatched by Cheeto yep, give or take who
the two is. And then Nickel. We have a really good Nikola and
McCreery that proved to be I mean, he's one of the best at the
catch point in the league last year. He was really good last year.
So through the air it's going to be difficult. You can attack the linebackers
a little bit, but really to get your bang for your buck, Like
if you want them first down, second down, you want to get some
easy ours. To me, I'm running outside zone or I'm hitting a jet
just to get on the outside because the guys on the edge we have Landry
Key or Shaw Weaver, especially Weaver and Key, they're just they're too light.
You know, they're not built for that. You know, their body
type is not built for that. And I talk body type because it's that's
sort of the language that scouts to talk to, especially with you know,
a guy like Traylon Burton, his body type being on the inside. But
that's a whole another conversation. But on the edge with Key, with Weaver,
they're just too light to set the edge, especially against you know,
in the NFL, we're seeing a lot of big tackles now, yeah,
and they're big, but they're mobile. I mean, these tackles are badasses.
Yeah, you know, we see the top two tackles taking this year.
They're huge. Yeah, so they'll overpower the smaller edge guys like Key,
and they can also get around and be quicker. You can outflank them
with speed with the receiver, depending on how you design it, whether it's
wide zone or whether it's just a quick pop pass as a jet. You
know. So it's I think we'll be in trouble in that aspect. But
the only thing that would save us there is how athletic our linebackers are with
Sweat and Jeffers Simmons where they don't have to really worry about a cutback so
they can flow there. And then we also have some physical corners on the
outside and Snead and McCrary, so that'll help us out a bit too.
I was about to say, I think getting corners defensive backs that are physical,
that are willing to come up and crash the play is probably a key
to it. And part of me wonders if Denard Wilson is looking at this
kind of well, the Titans regime as a whole is kind of looking at
this situation like, you know, we weren't going to be able to check
every box this offseason. We've we've heard them say that a couple of times
in media availability throughout the spring. If they're just like, you know what,
we checked as much off the list as we could, and maybe there's
a way that we can kind of patchwork something together with you know, safety
and cornerback help to kind of help mitigate that. But I think you're right,
man. I mean, I look at that as a potential area that
opposing offenses could exploit because of just the personnel groupings just who who are you
going to put out there to really set that edge. So we're thinking about
the teams, like I'm looking at the schedule, like the first team that
pops up is Green Bay, and the way that they run the ball could
could be a long day, a long day for the Titans defense in that
mess at Green Bay as well too. I can't remember off the top of
it. I don't remember off the top of my head. Off it's there.
But that's gonna be an interesting game with Lafleur, you know. So
he's salivating at that. Yeah. So elsewhere on defense, do you feel
like the personnel editions this spring have been good enough? Oh? Absolutely,
you know, I'm very, very excited about that corner. We haven't had
a shut down corner in the Titans history in Nashville. We just haven't.
You know, the closest we've had to that is, you know, you're
out people altera Ron Werner, you're chasing mccordy's. Those guys were, you
know, shut down in their day. Cortland Finnegan in his own way,
was shut down. Yeah, but we haven't had a bona fide, nationally
recognized shut down corner ever. And Lajarius Sneed is that guy. And when
you're looking at the schedule and you see these ones that we have to face,
doesn't it feel good to say we got a guy for that. Yeah?
Yeah, absolutely does. Yeah. And Jake, Jake's got our back
in the comments, Green Bay is at home so perfect, so at least
we'll have some a little bit of juice there. But you know, with
go ahead to your point, I was stoked when they signed Cheeto and I'm
like, oh man, they checked off the cornerback need. Now they can
get get a guy in the draft, and you know we'll be said.
The Lagarious Need trade kind of blindsided me. And then I'm looking at the
group on paper after that trade and I'm thinking, man, damn, this
is this may be the best top three defensive backs this this team has ever
seen, between Sneid, Cheeto, and McCreary in the slot, like this
is this is a good group. I think this is This is an area
where they went from truly weak and everybody was crying about the offensive line at
the end of last season, and rightfully so, it was atrocious. But
I kind of stepped back and was like, hey, this secondary is just
as dire of a situation as this offensive line, and they took it from
dire to one of the strengths of this team at this point, and at
least on paper. You know, you still have to anything can happen in
the NFL. You have to put that caveat in there. But this is
a group that I think Titans fans have good reason to get excited over.
It's definitely that, you know, it has to. It's a testament to
Carthen and the job he's done over the last you know, year and a
half is yeah, with the team to be able to turn any weakness into
a strength. I mean, we see Monty Austin Ford out there in Arizona,
a guy that interviewed for the position that's still working on getting you know,
Arizona together. So it's a process, but Carton has really expedited that
process, and from all accounts, after he got the job, that's something
that you know, was part of his pitch to Amy was that this isn't
going to be a five year rebuild. It's looking like a three year rebuild,
especially if Levis turns out to be who he should be. I mean,
we're we're ready after next year or after this year, I think I'm
glad you're doing my segues for me. Man, good, good work.
You should be the host of the show today. Oh no, man talking
about Will Levis. Man, I don't know about you, but it feels
like all of a sudden, there are like film studies, tape grinders are
out there, like just now getting around to Will Levis's tape, and like,
holy shit, maybe this kid isn't the thirty third best quarterback in the
NFL. Maybe he does flash some pretty elite traits. And the way I
phrased it was like the Titans. I guess if you're a national analyst,
the Titans are that team that you get around to in May and June when
nothing else is going on and you can finally get around to these small market
teams. So maybe that's just a byproduct of that. Guys really are just
now getting around to the Will Levis tape. But I'm pretty sold on him
in the sense that I think he's the guy. I think he's shown enough
that you push your chips to the middle of the table on the rookie contract
and you're looking at it as like the next two years, we've got this
guy to maximize his potential. But what do you need to see from Will
Levis in year two to get to that point where you feel like, Okay,
this is the franchise guy. There's no more there's no more evaluating to
be done. He's our guy. What areas that do you think he needs
to improve in to get to that point? So, yeah, I'm really
confident and Will Levis being the guy. I would say about seventy percent confident
he can be that guy. But at thirty percent that really is in the
back of my mind, and it's it really has to do with Levis's temperament,
especially endgame. It's not about his temperament out off the field or on
the sidelines, it's about his temperament in game as a quarterback. He's really
from my liking, he's two guns lingky, and to Callahan's liking, he's
two guns slinky too. But all you know, we've he said it that
call or Levis is two guns lingy. Levis has said it himself. So
that's an issue as a quarterback, especially a young quarterback, when defenses are
trying to confuse you, you know, they're they're rotating coverages all on the
back end. They're bringing sim pressures, trying to confuse you and sort of
baiting you and trapping you into that playing that hero ball, like you have
to make a hero throw every play when you absolutely don't. And Levis sort
of gets he sort of has that complex in game, like I've got to
make a hero play. And it's understandable because if you're if you've been the
best player on your team for your whole career, you're the best player when
you get to the SEC. I mean the SEC. I mean we're talking
Kentucky though, but the SEC you're the best player on that team, You're
gonna have that complex that you can do that, you know what I mean.
So, but the NFL is different, Grady different or different Gravy.
So he has to be able to control his temperament in that in that manner,
and Callahan seems like he's gonna be the best coach to control his temperament
form by you know, not necessarily giving him those reads like Tim Kelly.
I mean, Tim Kelly says, just go out there and sling it.
Man. We're gonna do hard play action face and we're gonna throw Yankee all
day. Yeah, you know that's not gonna be the case. That's not
gonna be the case with Yankee or Callahan. Yeah, and I think,
you know, I think the situation in twenty twenty three contributed to that as
well, because I think the hero ball stuff was probably amplified because the receiving
situation. Outside of DeAndre Hopkins, he didn't have guys that could naturally separate,
and he was fighting for his life on every play behind that offensive line.
So to me, it felt like there was a lot of his play
kind of screamed, I've got to do something miraculous or else nothing is going
to happen at all. And so, pardon me, wonders if just by
virtue of theoretically improving the offensive line, I'm not gonna get burned again by
saying the offensive line can't get any worse than it did last year, because
that, Yeah, it's crazy. Who would have thought Andre Dillard worse than
Dennis Daily, But here we are. But I think if you just marginally
improve the offensive line situation and then stockpiling weapons around him, it's not just
you know, the Calvin Ridley signing, but the Tyler Boyd signing that you
mentioned, Tony Pollard signing, I think is going to help him out there.
Getting all these weapons around him and improving the offensive line in front of
him, I think should should make it a little easier. Maybe he doesn't
quite feel compelled to do the hero ball thing as often now. Something that
Brian Callahan talked about on The Athletic Football Show that I thought was particularly interesting
that pertains to this conversation. He mentioned getting Levis's completion percentage up, and
I think a lot of people hear that and they just think, like,
why would you coach for a statistic? Why would you coach to like who
cares? That seems kind of silly. But if you stop and think about
the layers that go into improving your completion percentage, if he's completing more passes,
it means he's more likely that he's hitting on more of the underneath,
mid range intermediate kind of passes, the quick passes and stuff like that.
And that is, to your point, an element of his game that I
think he does need to improve on. His learning to take those checkdowns,
to take the dump off to the flat, or throwing more of the open
guy underneath for for five yards instead of going for the kill shot. That
sort of thing. But I think his go watch him in game, his
eyes go straight to the downfield. They don't start underneath, you know,
And that's just that's something that is can be coached out of him. But
that's temperamental to when you're dropping back, your eyes shoot up. I mean,
you look like you're on a cartoon trying to like an astronaut or something,
trying to throw something deep every time. But you know, like like
you said, I mean it's Levis has the capability to be a really,
really really good West Coast quarterback too, with how quick this release is and
he doesn't have to be on platform to make accurate throws strength like strong accurate
throws, especially to the flats. So that can really help in a West
Coast off because we're gonna be in let's be honest, we're gonna be in
a West Coast offense. It's gonna be a lot of you know, dipping
dunk. Yeah, you know. And we can talk about this later,
Stony, We can about the runs game, because they did say, you
know, Big Coach is gonna be the run game. We'll talk about that
on the list. But you know, he has the he has the capability
to be a really good West Coast quarterback. Put it's all in his head
and he's got every other tool that you need as a quarterback. His temperament
off the field, on the sidelines, in the huddle is exactly what you
want in a quarterback. I'd rather have that than the temperament we had before
with the Tannehill and Mariota. But you know, he that's what That's another
thing. I love, love to see him. But he has absolutely everything.
It's just in between the in between the ear holes sometimes. So I'm
confident he can do it, and I'm confident Callahan can get him there.
Yeah. And and by all accounts, you know, people have said it
was something that I missed when I was scouting him because a lot of the
the exterior people that didn't work or play with Will Levis were saying like,
oh, the dude's kind of quirky, Like I don't know if if players
are going to rally around him. And I think I took that to heart
a little too much when I was scouting Levis, and it was part of
the reason why I was so low on him. But you hear people that
played with him, that coach him talked about how smart he was, how
hard he worked, and all that sort of thing. And when you hear
these conflicting reports from scouts and people outside the building saying he's quirky, he's
kind of cocky, it was easy for me. I'll hold myself accountable.
It was easy for me to look at that and say, well, yeah,
of course the people that coached and played with him are going to say
nice things about him, because you know, they want to see their boys
succeed. And it reflects well on them too to say that, you know,
he's this awesome player. But I think the thing that we're finding out
from the first game against Atlanta is that a lot of that stuff is true.
A lot of that stuff is true. That he's a sharp kid,
that he's a hard worker. And I'll just I'll never forget the Jeffrey Simmons
quote miked up in that game where he's like that damn Will Levis can play
man like ye to see that moment where his teammates, not just his teammates
but like one of the cornerstones of this franchise right now, and Jeffrey Simmons
just light up and you see it just in real time, like oh shit,
this is a this is a dude right here. It answered that question
for me, and that is something like you said, I don't think you
can coach I don't think you can coach into somebody. And it's one of
the most important traits that your quarterback can have, is that sort of that
that mentality that guys want to play for, that guys want to rally around,
the toughness, the want to the work ethic. And so when he
answered those questions for me, I was like, all right, let's let's
go. Let's let's build around this guy while he's still on the rookie deal,
and let's let's really give him a shot to be successful. So that
really impressed me with will levis that part of it, with you know,
the guys rallying around him. But you know what really impressed me even more
than that about him, what's that just with his teammates, is when he
got in DeAndre Hopkins' ass on the sideline. Oh yeah, in one of
the games. I mean, this guy is a rookie quarterback, this is
his third or fourth game in the league, and he's getting into a Hall
of Famer's ass right there on the on the sideline. They're going right back
at it. Yeah, you don't see that in a rookie quarterback. No,
you know what I mean. And as we have the comments here,
d Ops is numb one fan. He's a fan of Will Levis. They
didn't really get that many reps in training camp. It was you know,
Milik Willis, it was Ron Tannehill. They said that we didn't really get
reps until week eight when we were week six when we started, you know,
when he was confirmed as a starter. So Ford hop to already be
a big, big fan of his after that exchange, and them to have
the mutual respect for each other and the understanding that, hey, we just
want to get better. That's what really impressed me. Man Is with him
doing that as a rookie. You don't see that. Yeah, And we
appreciate you watching chef Ran dropping that in the comments for us. Uh,
let's move on, because I could sit here and gush about Will Levis and
we can the intricacies of this passing game and the offense and all that all
day. But I do want to talk about the run game a bit because
I kind of feel like it's an aspect of this offense that people are sleeping
on and Titans fans after the offense that they've they had seen for so many
years. It looked like we were kind of getting somewhere with Tim Kelly.
But this Brian Callahan offense really feels like modern NFL and you're seeing passes thrown
in volumes you hadn't seen before out at the OTAs people. People are right
to get excited about this offense. But that's a little nugget you mentioned it
before that Bill Callahan's gonna be the run game coordinator. They've already kind of
said like they're gonna mix things up between gap and zone. I like that.
I think that's, you know, be multiple, be harder to defend.
But I think the byproduct of that beefing up the offensive line literally getting
bigger bodies in the offensive line, and then adding Tony Pollard even like I'm
I'm stoked about the addition of Dylan Johnson as an undrafted free agent as well.
I think he gives him a pretty a pretty good stable of running backs
here. I kind of feel like this team's going going to be a sneaky
good rushing team in twenty twenty four. Where do you stand on that?
Man? I think we have the opportunity to be really, really good,
you know, in the run game, especially depending on who we have at
guard. You know, I don't know if it's going to be Raidings or
who it's gonna be, but Raidens can be really solid in the run game.
Cushion Barry is really solid in the run game. Skeronsk laid them earn
their butter off the run game. But it's you know, another thing that
I'm excited about with the run game, like you said, is how multiple
will be in the run game. So if you look around the league and
you look at these guys, this is something that Callahan set himself and something
that you do and I know I do, is look around the best teams
in the league and how they run the ball and how they do it.
You know, you look at you look at San Francisco, you look at
La La in particular McVeigh. I mean he had the Bible on one side
of his desk and then he had the wide Zome book on the on the
right side of his desk. But him, of all people, they're multiple
now, you know what I mean, Shanahan's multiple. Now they're nobody's exclusive
to to one side of it. And that's what I loved most about about
the nugget that they dropped the work to be we're gonna run gap end zone.
But also with the profiles of linemen that we're grabbing, it's a lot
closer to that McVeigh style offensive lineman that he's changed to. Big big guys.
Got he's got that right guard Dotson that they just resigned a malleryeh.
And when you think wide zone historically and these linemen, when you think of
the zone scheme, you don't see mallers like that anymore. It's getting back
to the old school, and I think it's to combat the smaller, quicker,
defensive lineman. So you know, it's sort of like it feels good
to feel like we're ahead of the curve on something like that, at least
for sure, profile archetype wise, with offensive lineman. Latham's one, I
mean, he's he's a beast, scronsky, just another just a road grader.
And then you know, whoever we put it right guard. It's gonna
be exciting to see. But I just love that we're going to be in
a multiple scheme running you know, zone, running gap, and it's really
going to keep them off balance. So I'm excited about that. Man,
that's really beyond all the passing stuff. I'm not even as I'm more excited
about the run game. I mean, let's be honest. Yeah, I
We're going to get into the weeds a little bit here, but I I
like it sometimes all right, if people are watching listening and it turns them
off, just let me know and we can we can broaden our scope again.
But Brian Callahan mentioned like studying the play calling tendencies of Kyle Shanahan and
you know, obviously Lafleur and coming from Zach Taylor and the McVeigh system and
that sort of thing. And I'm I'm like looking at the forty nine Ers
playbook and there's one thing that really stands out to me is how many like
choice routes they run with Christian McCaffrey out of the backfield. And those things
are so hard to defend, especially when you have a guy like McCaffrey.
And so I'm I'm kind of like reading the tea leaves here and I'm like,
man, I just I wonder if he's going to want to sprinkle more
of that into this offense where you're putting linebackers or edge rushers into immediate conflict
not knowing which way the route is going to break. So I kind of
wanted to get your take on that and not saying like Christian McCaffrey and ty
J. Spears and Tony Pollard are the same player, but if they were
to kind of sprinkle some of those little choice routes and some of the more
difficult stuff for running backs to run, or in the very least, like
you don't typically see running backs run. It's stuff that you run if you've
got a guy like Christian McCaffrey, But what is your confidence level like in
Spears and Pollard as route runners, if they wanted to sprinkle more of that
into the offense. And I had a thread from a while ago that I
tweeted, it's on X somewhere. I mean you might. All you have
to do is type in Kamara and Spears. And I compared Spears to Alvin
Kamara and Christian McCaffrey, not talent wise, but profile wise as a running
back and the type of running back that they are. I saw him as
that type of running back, and Pollard, of course, as that type
of running back. And I can't tell you what I'll do. I'll probably
need an extra set of pants if I see if I see Brian Callahan motion
out Tony Pollard or Tase Spears out there like Shanahan does McCaffrey ten yards behind
a line of scrimmage, Yeah, I might, I might do something crazy
to my pants. I'm not gonna lie to you. It's gonna excite me.
We gotta you and me both man. We got to stock up on
our pants before the season starts, just in case. Yes, yes,
but if that's the type of innovation that I want to see, and that's
the type you need those type of profiles running backs to be able to have
that innovation now in this league. And even a guy like Chig. You
talk about the forty nine Ers playbook, I know you go to the H
back and see all the motions with the H back wherever the H backs lined
up in Kyle you sit, you sick, you si yeah, or to
pronounce his name. But we have that profile type guy in Chigakong Quo.
We do. So we are so versatile from tight end between Chig, Pollard
and Spears that we can really you know, sky's the limit with the innovation
that Calahan has me has to be salivating with that. That's That's what I'm
saying. Man, Like you watched these interviews with Brian Callahan and he just
seems to light up about certain things. And we're talking about trailing Burks this
week. It's like every time somebody brings up trailing Burks, he lights up.
But you just kind of ask him. He was on Busting with the
Boys and they were asking him about a Super Bowl prediction kind of deal,
and he just kind of smiled, played it a little koy, like,
you know, I can't guarantee anything, but you could tell from the look
in his eye from the smile when he said, but I feel pretty good
about where we're at. Like this, this guy, I think he's pretty
stoked about the group that they have on offense right now. But keeping that
trend going, it seems like we've mentioned it a couple of times on the
show already. They weren't gonna check every box this offseason, and it looks
like the right side of the offensive line is one of those spots where they're
content to just make do with what they have have. JC Latham locked in
at left tackle, Peter Skeronsky locked in a left guard and Lloyd Cushionberry locked
in at center. Like that's a formidable group. Your your left tackle to
your center right there, but right guard and right tackle kind of feel wide
open, like they're just gonna go with the competition throughout the summer to see
who who who is the cream that rises to the top. How do you
feel about that entering training camp? Are you good with the bodies that they
have on the right side of the line competing. Do you think it's a
situation where they are just gonna have to make do or do you think there
are a guy or maybe two guys out of this group that can really rise
up and fortify a complete offensive line. Yeah. I wouldn't say I'm,
you know, completely content with it, but we gotta be content with it
at this point, don't we. You know what it is. It is
what it is at this point with with who we have. But it's a
lot better this year than it was last year competition wise for those spots,
you know. And I'm really high on Dylan Rayden's he had a transformation coming
into this offseason. I mean, the guy looks like a brick house you
know what I mean. So I don't I don't know if he beefed up
with that with the mind of being pushed into the interior, or if he
was just you know, trying to get in you know, sort of better
shape and be quicker. I don't know, but I think Raidens has to
lock down one of those spots, preferably right tackle, just because of the
market value, like sort of dollar steal will get if Raidens solidifies that right
tackle spot and we're able to resign him. I mean you're talking that could
save us tens of millions of dollars next offseason if he finds a way to
lock that spot up and guard too. So guards got paid this past year
too, So I say that, but guard's got crazy money you know,
in the off season and free agency as well. So if Dylan Raidens is
able to solidify one of those spots, because he looked really good to me
on tape towards the on the back end of the season, you know,
the last five six games, and he had to get over that ACL injury.
I mean, people forget he came back early from it. He was
back in six seven months. Yeah, from that ACL injury. Yeah,
he wasn't pla, but he was back on the practice field doing full contact
after you know, six seven months, and then he comes in this offseason.
The work ethic is not the problem with Dylan Raidings. I think he's
been given a you know, an unfair shake more than anything. He's been
moved from left tackle, left guard, right guard, you know, right
tackle. He's played all over, which is good in a way to build
versatility, but it's also unfair on a rookie and second third year guy trying
to get their feet wet in the NFL coming from North Dakota State University.
Yeah, you know, so it's it's tough, but he has the talent
and he has the athleticism to be a guy and solidify one of those positions,
right guard, right tackle for me. And if he's moved to right
guard, Bron schools a good option as an interior swing guy, and then
we got on the tackle spot, it would I mean, I want to
see Jalen Duncan and NPF fight out for that. Yeah, you know,
that's that's who I want to say. I'm really high on Duncan because he
was highly touted, really athletic guy coming out of Maryland last year. Would
love to see what he can do at right tack. I'm happy to hear
you say that, because I haven't really wavered in my love of Jalen Duncan.
I was really high on him coming out of college. I thought he
was a really coachable kid that just if he could put it together from the
neck up, had all the physical tools that you looked for in an offensive
tackle. I still want to know why he wasn't at the OTAs this week,
because I haven't seen anybody report on it. I don't know if he's
dealing with an injury like a lot of the guys or what. That kind
of was a red flag for me. I know NPF is dealing with an
injury. It kind of sounds like it's gonna be those two guys. As
chef Ran points out, we can't forget about le Roy Watson. They gave
up a seventh round pick for the guys, right so, and he's obviously
somebody that Bill Callahan does have experience with. I also, listen, this
might be crazy. We're talking about getting into the weeds of a roster.
I don't think we should count out John Ajuku yet either. I really liked
his pape. At Boise State, he was a left tackle, made the
switch over to the right side. He got some playing time in twenty twenty
three. You know, it was like a lot of the rookie offensive linemen,
the situation wasn't that good, and I think it really expounded how bad
they looked. And they're also like young guys just trying to develop too.
So I think they've got a stable of these guys that have the talent,
the physical tools to do it. It's just a matter of who's actually going
to win the job. NPF being the one guy that does have experience at
right tackle and you know, played some decent football in his past. At
least it seems like that's what he has going for him, and that's why
the fan base tends to kind of gravitate towards him as the right tackle.
But I don't know, man, I think that's gonna be a true competition
this summer. I don't think that's all of these guys too. Yeah,
some of them are going to get a meteoric rise under the coach and the
Bill Kallan. It's gonna be the best offensive line coach they've ever had.
Yeah, some of these, especially the young guys, are gonna, you
know, get better exponentially. So anything we've I think of a competition right
now could be completely different once Callahan gets his hands on some of these guys
and they find a way to improve, like I mean, like the fellow
you just mentioned, and then Jalen Duncan too. I mean, Lord knows
what what Bill Callahan can do with Jalen Duncan. Yeah, and you know,
the the OTAs are voluntary. We we know that, but they're really
not so yeah. Well, I mean it's voluntary for guys like Jeff Simmons,
Harold Landry that have been around the block a little bit. I would
not put Jalen Duncan in the category of guys that should be out there skipping
OTAs just because he doesn't want to. And that's that's why I kind of
like I'm pressing the media, like y'all get out there, somebody ask about
Jalen Duncan. I know it's not gonna sell newspapers there, get clicks to
your website. Some of us some of us need to know, some of
us need you know. I got a couple of exercises for you before we
wrap up on today's show, Uh, sleeper watch. We're gonna do this
buy or sell style because I think there are some names that we're hearing about
at OTAs that Titans fans are are kind of forgett. Let's start with defensive
lineman Sebastian Joseph Day. He. Uh, you know, people are thinking
about the defensive line in terms of Jeffrey Simmons and to and Andre Sweat.
But this is still an experienced player in the NFL. He's played some good
football in meaningful games, and he shows up for the voluntary OTAs hearing a
couple of reports that he practiced pretty well, looked pretty good out there.
Uh, would be really awesome if they could get a third guy in that
defensive line rotation that could be a quality player when they're on the on the
field. Are you buying or selling on Sebastian Joseph Day. I think we're
buying under the impression that, you know, the stock isn't going to run
to one hundred dollars a share. Nothing, It's going to be you know,
it might be a penny stock, but you know it has potential to
really rise. Yeah, and a guy like that in the interior, especially
on third down if we're you know, and that's that's been my biggest gripe
with Sweat is you know, what can he do on third down? But
we do have a good, you know, a stop gap in the meantime
with Sebastian Joseph Day that can be really good, especially in this system that
I sort of foresee us having on third downs with a lot of sim pressures
and a lot of movement. He fits into that mold perfectly, especially if
a guy like Jeffer Simmons is taking up double teams and you got Sebastian Joseph
Day stunting around the edge with Landry or you know, just him and jeff
Simmons stunting. He's a guy that's perfect for that, and I really would
like to see what he does on third down. We can't even run a
heavy third down package with you know, a heavy pass RUSS package with Sweat,
Simmons, Joseph Day and Landry. Now you know, it's sky is
the limit, you know, so we can because you talk, just think
about the interior pressure you'll get with Simmons in Sweat and then you have Day
and Landry. You know, whether they're stunting or just going down the outside.
You know, we we've got a lot of potential and a lot of
versatility on that defensive line with the addition of him, not to mention just
depth for sweat. So I'm really I'm excited to see what he does,
especially with our scheme. I'm more excited for the scheme than for him.
But you know, I think he'll fit really well with the scheme. They
added a big bodied, versatile offensive lineman in Sadiq Charles that has experienced at
a couple of spots. You figure he's going to be guard depth. And
I know the media is not allowed to talk about like the personnel groupings during
the OTAs, like who's playing where, But from what I've seen online,
from what I've heard, Charles is a guy that we should probably put on
on our radar as a as a real dark horse to win one of those
right right side of the line jobs. And I like how you did,
stony trying trying to say, trying to say what I can say, but
I I do think that UH Titans fans are kind of sleeping on the addition,
I think he's a versatile guy that can can plug in in a couple
of different spots, and from the way he's looked at OTAs from from what
I'm hearing, like he's he's a guy that could be on the rise this
summer as well. Are you iron are selling on Sadik Charles? So in
that capacity that you say, I definitely buy on Sadee Charles especially, he's
a guy that Callahan wonted in, you know what I mean. So he's
seen what what Charles is capable of, and to a certain extent at LSU,
we've seen with what Charles is capable of. He I mean, he
played he played left tackle at LSU. So I really put a lot of
stock into those guys that come from those big time conferences that have you know,
produced in those big time conferences. So I think he'll do he'll do
well when give him the opportunity. But as you said, I think he'll
just be a swing guy at most, you know what I mean. The
last guy I want to mention is Josh Wiley. Went down pretty pretty early
in his rookie season with an injury, but I thought he flashed some pretty
good play. Kind of a jack of ball trades tight end, but looks
like a guy that could be a piece in this offense, particularly like up
the scene. You again, I hate to just you could tell I'm like
fan boying over the forty nine Ers playbook, but like seeing some of those
routes that their tight ends run up the scene. I'm just picturing Josh Wiley
with Will Levis, you know, throwing throwing stuff thirty yards down the field
like touchdowns all day, baby. But I kind of feel like the fan
base is sleeping on him as a factor in the offense at the tight end
spot. Sounds like he looked pretty good uh this week as well? Are
you buying and selling Josh Wiley? So I'll be honest, man, this
might sound a little crazy, but going into the offseason I had Wiley a
little at least on par with Chigg at the tight end spot, just through
where we're at as a pure tight end for sure. You know Wiley.
Wiley is a guy, and Wiley showed us a lot of promise last offseason,
especially in the past game with him how good he is in the past
game. All he has to do is be serviceable in the run game and
nobody's gonna say a thing, you know. So, but you need a
guy like Josh Whally that can stretch the stretch the middle of the field,
put pressure on the linebackers and safeties right there to allow for those underneath routes
to happen and occur underneath. So definitely buying on a guy like Josh Wiley.
And I'm really excited to see what he can do, man, because
I think he can. People might be surprised by his snapshare that we see
this year, especially considering that Callahan himself has said that we need to add
more tight ends. I don't think he's talking about adding tight ends in the
archetype and profile at Chigakonko. He's talking about adding adding tight ends in the
manner of Wiley, because Wiley is going to be somebody that will be relied
on and he has unfortunately history of concussions. So I think, I mean,
what do you think about about Wiley and his snapshot? I think it
could be incredibly high, more than Chigg potentially. Oh dude, So we
h we actually started cooking this up on football and other f words on Wednesday.
I think Mike, Zach and I are all on the same page.
Like we haven't. We haven't fully fleshed out the idea just yet, but
the little the nugget is there, like Josh Josh Wiley probably tight end one
for this team in twenty twenty. Very well, I didn't want to say
it, but very out there. Yeah, he very well could be man
because Jigs struggled last year, Let's be honest. I mean he struggled with
drops, he struggled with with some other things. And at the end of
the day, if you scout tight ends and you scout draft guys all the
time. I don't consider myself a scout, but I look at guys and
I can put them in the in the buckets. Jig a coon quo is
a gadget guy. He is, and we don't have that luxury to have
right now. You know, current state and last year especially, we did
not have the luxury to have a gadget guy and to try and feed a
gadget guy. We just didn't. So until we have that luck, we
earned that right to have a gadget guy as an offense. Chig is an
afterthought to me for the meantime. No, but he he can be great.
Yeah, I'm with you. We're on the same page. There so
similar similar options here. We're gonna do buy or sell, but we're gonna
flip the qualifier here fresh start stock watch. So these are guys that are
getting a fresh start under a new regime, that still have some talent that
that we'll we'll see where they go if if they benefit from this change in
leadership. Let's start with the easy one, because we've already talked about him,
Dylan Raidin's. I think he'll do really well. You know, he
was doing really well last year with the catastrophe of an offensive line coach and
staff we had last year. I mean that that offensive line coach last year
came from a high school, didn't he. I mean I did some research.
I don't know, and I'm pretty sure he did. I'm pretty sure
he did. He did come from a high school. He was a head
coach somewhere. But he might have had in Chili's for all I know.
Who knows the way, Yeah, who knows. And he didn't bring no
discounts or nothing, So you know, that's a problem. If he's gonna
come from Chili's, bring a damn discounts, some gift cards something. But
yeah, you know, ratings, man, I think he's going to be
a really good asset. Not only do I want him to be a good
asset, I think he can be a good asset, and I see that
he can be a good asset on either spot, right guard, right tackle,
and at the end of the day, even if he doesn't win one
of those jobs, one of the better swing tackles that we that we could
have, but I definitely see him winning that I want. My heart says,
I want him to win the right tackle job. But it really doesn't
matter because of the way guards and tackles are being paid now. Guards,
I mean guards got paid this past offseason, so we're able to steal money
essentially if Ravens turns out to be a guy that we're able to repay or
not repay, but we're able to pay at right guard or right tackle.
Yeah, that's you want to talk about icing on the cake with with Dylan
Gis. If he pans out, that would be Uh, then look at
the look at the offensive line after if he pans out, Yeah, then
we only have one hole, you know what I mean? Yeah, for
the next three or four years. So, uh, do you think there's
any juice left to squeeze from Caleb Farley h Unfortunately, though, I don't.
I don't see anything with him. He's a guy that I see as
a candidate that could be possibly moved to safety. I mean yeah, because
he you know, he's he's lost a little bit of his his You talk
about squeeze and juice, he's lost a little litle bit of his juice coming
out of Virginia Virginia Tech with you know, athletic wise, he has to
have from what you know, it just naturally he's had to have. He
hasn't really been in the mix in the last couple of years, but he
has the length and he has the size to be a serviceable safety, more
so than Molden in my opinion. Okay, so you know, I like
molding but Molden and Hooker are in the same group with me. They just
don't cover enough ground for me as a safety. They just don't. And
if you're going to be a hybrid safety, you've got it. In this
day and age, you don't have to be a you know, cover as
much ground as a free safety, but you've got to be able to cover
ground as a safety in this league, and Molden and Hooker do not.
Farley can. So I you know, that's something. I don't think he
can pan out at corner. I don't see a path or avenue for him
to play corner for this football team at a decent rate. But I do
see a path to where we could potentially work on moving him to safety and
see what he does this year. I mean, I don't know, just
to get something out of him. Yeah, And I feel like Farley,
man. I try not to make excuses for players as much as I can,
but at the same time, Farley feels like a guy that the deck
was stacked against him from the jump. I mean, a guy that,
even at Virginia Tech had just moved to corner, like was still learning the
position and had an injury history to begin with. He's drafted in the first
round, so drafting, being drafted in the first round comes with those expectations.
And then he can't stay healthy and you know, kind of struggles struggles
seemed to struggle to learn the defense under Shane Bowen, and we know how
Vrabel operated. It was like, if you can't do your job, you
know you're not gonna play. And if you got in Mike Rabel's doghouse,
man, you might as well buy a home there. Buy some land set
up shop, you wouldn't get no food or water. No. I kind
of felt like the deck has been stacked against Farley and it just feels like
it's one thing after another with him, and you hate to see it for
a guy that all of my media friends that talk to the guy say like
he is one of the nicest dudes in that locker room. And I think
when you look at the traits, he's still probably one of the fifty three
best athletes on this roster. Just from a pure athletic standpoint, I think
he probably is still a really good athlete, and you hope that if there's
any shot of him making it, it is in this coaching staff saying hey,
we know how to harness that athleticism to get this guy on the field,
whether it's just special teams or like you said, I think there is
a path forward for him moving to safety. They have a need there.
Why wouldn't you want to look at one of your best athletes at the spot
back there where you need see what happens the versatility. Yeah, I think
there's a shot, but so far from what we've seen, I don't think
there's any production to warrant buying on KB Farley right now. I think I
would still be selling with the idea that it's house money. If you can
find a spot for him on this team, it would definitely sell with him.
And you know, one thing we talk about the impact Bill Callahan has
all offensive linemen, and yeah, I'm not trying to be visietious. I'm
not trying to be funny, but I'm just being honest. The new strength
and conditioning team can have a similar type impact on Caleb Farley for sure.
Let's let's be honest. You know, that can do him a lot of
good. And just a different style of rehab, a different style of maintenance,
a different style of just taking care of your body could do him really
good and we might be able to see that what could be the best of
what Caleb Farley has left. You know, he only has one year left.
He's not gonna Yeah, you know, it's it's house money. Like
you said, Yeah, a guy that has been kind of polarizing in the
in the past, it seems like one of those guys you either love him
or you hate him. Kind of kind of feels to me like Kyle Phillips
is on thin ice right now with the way they they added Tyler Boyd,
they drafted Jakwan Jackson. Kyle Phillips is a guy that has struggled with an
injury history. Has flashed really good slot receiver potential at times, but didn't
really put it together under Mike Rabel. There times that I kind of felt
like he might have been one of those guys that was in Mike Rabel's doghouse
too because he couldn't stay healthy or something that he's in mind too. Yeah,
glass Man, glass Man, Yeah, fair enough. But with a
change in regime, do you think there's a spot for Kyle Phillips to flourish
or do you think he's just one of the victims of the sheer volume that
they have at wide receiver right now. I think he's a victim of that,
but also I think he's a you know, he's a victim of injuries
too. He's He's I'm completely selling on this guy. I mean, this
is this is like a you know, the Wolf of Wall Street. We're
talking buying and selling the Wolf of Wallstroom and you get the penny stocks and
you feel like he got ripped off. That's that's how I feel with Kyle
Phillips as much hype as he got in the offseason as a rookie, as
much hype as he got an off season last year. And the hype comes
from Ladder and Kone Drails. Yeah, like, I mean, come on
now. And he did the one Giant the Giants game. He did well
in the Giants game, but that doesn't warrant the hype that he has,
and that's worked against him a little bit in a lot of people's eyes,
not just myself. Yeah, you know, but he's he's not. I
don't he's he has He'll be lucky to make the roster in my opinion.
He doesn't offer anything outside of the slot receiver spot, and he doesn't offer
anything on special teams. So yeah, I I I kind of feel like
it's all the writings already on the wall for him. I kind of feel
like the ship has sailed. And I know there are people that are saying,
well, he's absolutely one of the six best wide receivers on this roster,
but I just I just don't know, Like the sample size that you
have to base that off of is so small. I'm not comfortable making that
same assessment. I'm not I'm not going there with with Kyle Phillips, I
kind of feel like I kind of feel like he's I don't think he's gonna
make this roster if I had to get I don't think he will neither.
And I'm still struggling to understand why people think he's one of the best six
receivers on this roster. Yeah, where do they get that from? I
don't know the Giants game? That doesn't that's what? What is that?
It's the New York Giants. I think I think you're right, though.
I think there's a lot of you know, even going back to like the
U c l A tape, like oh, it's really juky, clean cut,
good route running slot receiver and the Titans need it and they don't have
it. And all this projection based off of what he could be and not
what he is after I mean, he's been in the league for a couple
of seasons now, like we kind of know and he kind of know what.
He hasn't added any size or anything like that. That's what That's really
what I It's not his performance. It's not him as a person. Yeah,
it's not even really it's never And to be honest and to be completely
candidate. It's never about the players as a person when I when I evaluate
these guys, it's never that. Yeah, but him his work ethic and
seeing that he has his body type is not conducive to the NFL. And
then you're also getting injured, So where is your change and trying to change
as an athlete to try and better yourself in that manner. You know,
we we see body type changes or during the off season from players of all
positions. We see it from Raidings, you know, we saw it from
well, I can't say we saw it from Treylon Burke's, but you know,
you you see it with players. We see it. We saw it
with Derek Henry every season. You know, you see the work. I'm
not saying he didn't put in the work, but I'm not seeing the work.
I'm not seeing the the preventive stuff with the with the injuries because he's
always injured. So I'm not seeing any fruit of that. I'm not seeing.
That's a good comment from Jake there, but that one break through Stingley
to the ground four years ago in college, uh huh. And I'm just
not seeing the the fruit of his work. To to put it plainly,
with Kyle Phillips, and you know that's that's important to me. Same thing
with Traylon Burton. If you got Traylon Burson here, it'll be the same
thing. With him. I'm not seeing the fruit of the work. And
with trailing Burt' it's something I don't really even see the work. You know
it's but we'll see. That's a whole different, whole different conversation. Well,
let's let's go into it, because Traylon Burks is the last guy that
I wanted to ask you about. Awesome we mentioned earlier. Brian Callahan's face
seems to light up every time that somebody mentions Traylon Burks, and he seems
kind of excited to get to work with the guy. You talk about the
lofty expectations with Caleb Farley Man, multiply that by a million for Traylon Burks
after the aj Brown trade, expectations that he was never going to live up
to, in my opinion, and a tough spot for him to be in.
He's also struggled with injuries. He's he's a guy that you know,
I have it on pretty good authority, was probably in Mike Rabel's doghouse as
well, and it was kind of there was kind of his fault kind of
it's about like you give him, you give him the spotlight in a big
moment and he drops the ball and fair foul. Just wasn't given chances or
opportunities after that. But it sounds like maybe turning over a new leaf under
Brian Callahan. What do you think the ceiling is for Trayling Burks in twenty
twenty four? I receiver three. That's what I think the ceiling is.
And you know, I don't. I think he sees twenty percent of the
snaps of game maybe at the most. That's what I'm thinking, maybe maybe
twenty five. I'm not really I'm not high on trailing burtson. This is
fault of his own. I mean, let's be honest. It's it to
me from what I have on authority too with them, things in the offseason
that have occurred that you know, weren't reported and stuff like that. The
guy is not really you might have heard. I mean it's Nashville is a
small city. He's not really. I can't say we know. I can't
say we know. I'm trying to watch my words here. We got a
football sometimes we do we do? We do, but football, I don't
know if it was his number one passion as a receiver as much as Rabel
wanted, you know what I mean. And then there was a couple of
other things that he wasn't living up to the expectation with Rabel off the field
and other manners as well. So that's that'll be what I what I put
it as. But you know, he he does that stuff, and Rabel's
probably like, Okay, you're in the doghouse, but I'm gonna give you
an opportunity. You're number one. I have to give you an opportunity,
and then you squander it there, you know. So that's the double whammy
against Rabel, and you know he's out of there, but he sort of
gets a new leaf here with this new coaching staff. He's lucky. He's
a lucky guy. Trailing Burch is gets a new leaf with the coaching staff,
new receiving coach, new head coach. You know, we still got
Carton, so he still has a new leave with Carthon because that's not one
of Carton's guys. That's the j Rob guy. But it's all about what
Trailing Burch does. You know why to me, see, why is it
this offseason that he starts to get help from veteran receivers, you know,
with training with DeAndre Hopkins, training with a guy like Ridley, Why did
it start this offseason? Why didn't it start last offseason? He was healthy
going in the last offseason, wasn't he I'm not mistaken he was. He
was. Why didn't that start last offseason? That's my question with him?
And I don't know, Yeah, we just don't know. It's decision making.
And I'm not saying he wasn't doing the work, but it's decision making
of how you're doing it. Now. You're putting into work with veteran guys,
Hall of Fame guys that have done it and continue to do it.
And look at the fruit that you're already I mean, he won an off
Season Award last year, but look at the fruit you're already getting with the
coaching staff from working with a guy the caliber of DeAndre Hopkins, a veteran
that'll tell you the way and show you the way. Look at the guys
that DeAndre Hopkins has worked with and you know under in his career, Larry
Fitzgier, Andre Johnson, two of the best model pros that you could have
from a receiver spot, you know what I mean. So the knowledge is
there, I just don't know if it's being seeked until now. I would
be really really curious, really interested to hear both party's opinion on the relationship.
I would really be curious to hear what Mike Rabel and Tim Kelly thought
of Traylon Burkes. And I would be really curious to know what Traylan Burke's
felt about the previous regime, because you know, there's nobody's going to publicly
bash one another or anything like that. But I have felt like the way
that Burke's was utilized was kind of I I think the actions, the behavior
speaks more than the words, and the way that they used Burke's last season
it kind of just made me feel like that I think there's something there.
I think there's some kind of friction between the two, and you know,
I don't know that for sure. That is me just recklessly speculating in front
of a microphone. For however many people are going to listen to this episode.
We're not the first or the last. Yeah, to be fair,
we're not the first or the last. But I do think it's interesting to
see, like you pointed out, all of a sudden, like getting in
the work and hearing Brian Callahan talk about how he's can, he's athletic,
he's big, he can do multiple things. DeAndre Hopkins is defending him in
press conferences talking about he's one of the most athletic guys he's he's played with.
I kind of I do kind of feel like there has been new life
breathed into Burks' career, but I kind of see him as more of like
the gadgety wide receiver for as like where he probably best fits into this offense
guy that you can use in motion and to run like some of the decoy
routes and stuff like that. And I think if you can develop him into
a playmaker without the pressure of being aj Brown, I think maybe you got
a little bit of house money with him too. And the thing with the
thing with him too is we have to take an account. It's the same
grace so we gave to and Andre Sweat for being young, trailing Burch was
young as well when he got the very first strike. We did we didn't
we talked about the two latest strikes, but the first strike with trailer Burch
was coming into camp rookie camp out of shape. Yeah, and so but
again, like I, I don't know it, it's just where the where
to go? Yeah, it's away now. Yeah. I mean listen,
I had as a kid. I had asthma as a kid, and the
doctor told me if I got in better shape that it would likely go away
at some point, and it did. But you're talking about like over the
course of five years, not one off season. So I'm right, I'm
big natural. I'm also not a not an NFL athlete either, so big
natural though. Man, Well, you know I do I do try,
I do try. Yeah, but you know that's the we talk about the
strikes with him, and he's had plenty of strikes and with this time with
Rabel, and you know, Rabel was his own guy. But I could
side with Rabel on this particular point with him, you know, from and
of course we're not all gonna we're not all gonna know the ins and out.
So what happened, But like I said, Nashville is a small city,
and you know, things things happen. Yeah, Well that's it on
the Fresh Start stock watch. Last question, I want to ask if you
think there are any people on this roster is my cat, get down,
Get down down. My cat's just decided, Like, all right, you
guys have been talking for an hour. It's time I need to be fair.
You guys are talking about run game and and why are there any guys
on this roster that we haven't talked about or like sleeper candidates that you don't
feel like Titans Twitter is talking about enough that you think could really surprise and
steal a roster spot this summer. Yeah, one guy that And I've got
really one guy in mind right here. And he's he's performed when he's winning
games. He played a little bit last year and from Eastern Kentucky t K
McClinton, okay, defense of lineman, I think he'll do really well.
I see a lot of potential with him. I mean, he's a small
school guy, but he's really got the talent from what I've seen stepping in
as a rookie and performan I could see him really doing well, especially with
a new new coaching staff, you know, new lease on life, a
new opportunity for him. It's sort of a frush slate for him. They
see his tape from last year and they saw that, you know, he
did pretty well. That's the guy I see that could change, that could
really steal a spot on that defensive line because there's open spots on the defensive
line. Let's be honest, And I think T k mpenny could be one
of those guys. I really like t K Mclinton. Yeah, I'm with
you. He's he's flashed at times as well. I'm I'm going pretty deep
into the undrafted free agent well for this one, I'm I'm going with Gabe
Judy Lawley, and I think he's he's kind of a dog. He plays
hard. It's what Denard Wilson's looking for in a defensive back. I don't
think you play him at corner though. I mean, you watched some of
his tape in like one on one situations, was was kind of kind of
rough. But I'm I'm thinking, like, they need bodies at safety,
right, they need they do they I've got a question mark there that they
need to get creative in solving. Unless you know, I do still expect
him to sign a Marcus may or something like somebody like that. But I
think gave Judy Lawley is a guy that could make the transition to safety plays
really hard, kind of plays like a safety if you watch his tape already,
and I think he's somebody that in that room can probably find a home,
and they just they need bodies, They need to they need to tinker
around with that safety spot to find an option. So I'm going with with
Juty Lawley. Chef Ran chimes in and says James Williams on special teams should
be nice. And then our guy, Jake, Dylan Johnson from the Rooftops.
I'm a big Dylan Johnson fan man. I've I've been watching some of
his tape to put together for next Friday's film Friday on Stacking the Inbox,
and I don't know how he slipped through the cracks of the draft. I
mean, I really think it was just like straight line speed m questions and
maybe injury concerns the foot deal that was going on. But he's a he's
a good he's a good option as an as an undrafted free agent to add
to your running back room. Jake also mentions Khalid Duke. I haven't watched
any of him yet. Ed Rusher out of Kansas State. I know he's
got some inside linebacker in his past too, I think in twenty twenty two.
So kind of a versatile piece there that Zach has brought up before,
like, hey, this might you know, they're looking for options at linebacker
two, might be an interesting, interesting transition there. So that's all I
got for you. You worried about the green dot, real quick, Stony,
the green dot. Let's talk about the green dot for thirty more real
quick. It's one of those things like, look, I kind of felt
like, Okay, we got to figure out who is going to wear the
green dot, who is going to be that guy? But then we're still
talking about it three months later, and I'm like, man, I don't
he was blown out of proportion a little bit. Well, I think,
you know, like at a certain point, like we kind of know who
the options are and we can kind of discern who is probably the best option.
But you know, it's like there's a we're talking about the blocking sleds
too, man. Sometimes like we get hung up on these things and we're
just gonna we're just gonna talk about it. Blood and Olga and Bertha.
Yeah, Olga Bertha. I've heard too much about Oga and Bertha. Yeah,
so me some clips of Calvin Ridley running rounts. I need to see
that, so I gonna argue with Jags fans, But no, I don't.
I don't think I I honestly still at this point, really don't know
who's going to wear the green dot. I mean, I think it could
be a money hooker. He's been asked about it. I ideally I would
say, like, just go ahead and give it to Cedric Gray and just
put him out there, and just like, don't waste time. If the
vision is for him to be you're you're starting inside linebacker, then then go
ahead and put him out there. Just throw him to the wolves and see
if he sinks or swim. I don't know if that's going to be the
case or not. But do you care about it? I in the sense
of stock you put into it. I think you got to have a good
communicator in that spot. And I think it's something that if you've got if
you've got somebody bad out there, I think it can it can blow up
in your face. And I feel like there were issues with that in twenty
twenty when Kevin Biden. I don't remember who wore the green dot in twenty
twenty. I think I don't I don't remember, but I remember it was.
I can see how that'd be a problem every every week. Kevin Byard
was like, we got to communicate better. We're not communicating. There's communication
issues. Kevin Byard is probably still in a press conference somewhere talking about communication
issues. And so I think it's same week one. Yeah, I think
it's situations like that, like, yeah, you got to have a capable
guy wearing the green dot. But I think there are a lot of folks
out there this offseason that have conflated wearing the green dot to mean like good
rangy inside linebacker, And I just don't think that's the case. Just regurgitating
the play call and in the play call is gonna be simple. Fires on
three, Okay, come on there, we go figure it out. We're
we're educating people this morning. Be will let's stop asking about the green dots.
Stop asking about the green dot it will be Okay, let's let's talk
about run fits. That's what we need to be worried about. Scraping and
that's what we need to be worried. Abouh chef Ran points out too,
that was the year. Was that the year that they didn't have an official
defensive coordinator. I think it might have been. Yeah, what kind of
show was that? Looking back on it, dude, that they wasted?
Like the best Titans offense I've ever seen was that twenty twenty Titans offense.
They were scoring like thirty six points a game or something like that, and
they just were total hot mess on defense. Like couldn't they were scoring thirty
six and allowing thirty eight per game or something like that. It was it
was five. Yeah, that's that's being a Titans fan. That's why we
love them, right yeah, I mean yeah, god man man, all
right, Well that's gonna do it for us. B Will, Why don't
you shout out what you're working on, shout out where our listeners can can
find you on social media these days? Definitely, you can find me on
Twitter. That's really where I'm at the most is b with TFTV. I
do a lot of threads talking about Titans, talking about football in general.
Really, I try to just be really abstract and try and you know,
learn and teach football on Twitter. You know, it's there's a lot of
there's a lot of good people on Twitter, a lot of good resources,
and I try to just put my two cents in where where it's you know,
sometimes deserved and sometimes it isn't deserved, I hear. But you can
find me on find me on YouTube. Subscribe to my channel at TFTV Sports
t f TV Sports Tennessee fan Tv. I do the fan interviews outside the
stadium every single home game. I'm working to try and do some ALA games
as well, sick, so make sure you'll check that out and subscribe to
the channel. Man, there we go, And of course I appreciate you
having me on the Morning Glory Show Thursdays at seven am Central and Glory Day
Sports YouTube channel right and early appreciate you joining me today. It's been an
awesome show. Chef Rinn says it was a great show as well. So
without that, thank you, Jeff. That counts for something. As always,
rate review, subscribe to the Unofficial Titans Podcast. Wherever you take in
your shows, we ain't too hard to find out in these internet streets.
All of my work is up at sobrosnetwork dot com. I cover the Draft.
I covered the Tennessee Titans for Stacking the Inbox. Five bucks a month
gets you instant access there at stackingthinbox dot com. We got merch at sobroshop
dot com and word on the streets there's gonna be a new design coming out
soon. I gotta I gotta do something. Man, those Roll the Dice
Play the Board shirts. I sold like four of them. Jake was one
of them. So shout out to Jake. I appreciate that. Man.
I thought that was a bomb ass design and all it did was bomb so
I guess I was technically kind of right on it, and I gotta do
something. You gotta do something. You'll have to let me show it to
me afterwards. I'll get one. I like that Roll the Dice Played the
Board. I said it on the show yesterday just randomly. I don't know
why I said it, but I was like, man, I thought it
was a great shirt. It made the rounds on social media. Everybody was
like, damn, this is awesome and retweeting it and quote tweeting it and
sharing it, and then nobody I saw. I sold like three of those
things when when it first went live, and then a year later Jake fought
one and I got the order and I was like, damn, Jake's a
real one helping me out here. Actually, because of Jake's order, I
made my money back on the screen that it took to make the design,
So shout out Jake. Jake's a real one. I always appreciate that.
But like I said, new design coming too, sobroshop dot Com soon.
We still have the all your favorites up there, the national hot T shirt.
I'm kind of working through the last bit of coach, better play,
better shirts. Those are kind of on the way out, but that's I'm
gonna have to I'm gonna have to discount those. But we still got some
tank tops for for the summer that's coming up there. That's gonna do it
for us. For Bee Will, I'm big natural Stoney Keeley And until next
time, you stay classy Titans fans.